The two stories by Viktor Paskova that make up this book are a kind of dialogue between the author and himself. And its two heroes - two boys, smart beyond their years - are two "models", today even more obvious than thirty years ago. A child is the way the world and the people in it are. The pharisaism and lies in which Alexander’s life passes (“Immature Murders”), and the openness and honesty bestowed on Victor (“The Ballad of Georg Hoenig”). A year after the publication of the first story (1986), in which only cynicism and scandalousness were seen, but in fact - bitterness and sobriety, Paskov answered himself (and his readers!) “Ballad ...”, with this almost naive romanticism , which also did not exclude either sobriety or realism, but was overshadowed by honor and nobility.